Murabba

Murabba (from Arabic: مربى) is a sweet fruit preserve which is popular in many regions of South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It is generally prepared with fruits, sugar, and spices.^[1][2][3][4] A similar dish to murabba (spoon sweets) is also popular in the Balkans.

Murabba

Peach murabba
Region or state	South Caucasus, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia
Main ingredients	fruits, berries, nuts, sugar
Media: Murabba

Etymology

The word murabba is of Arabic origin.^[3] Murabbā (مربّى) in Arabic literally means "something made into rubb (رُبّ)". Rubb is fruit juice that has been cooked and thickened (inspissated). The verb rabbā is used to refer to preserving fruit by cooking it with sugar or honey until it reduces and sets into a concentrated syrup.^[5][6]

In Hindi, murabba (Hindi: मुरब्बा) refers to preserved fruits or jams.^[7]

History

The 10th-century Arabic cookbook kitab al-tabikh by Abbasid author Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq dedicates an entire chapter to making fruit conserves (murabbayat).^[8][3] Medieval cookbooks included recipes for rose petal murabba.^[9]

The 1867 dictionary Arabic–English Lexicon by Edward William Lane described murabba as "preserves, or confections" made with "inpissated juice" (رب).^[5] An 1895 translation by Socrates Spiro described مربى (mirabby) in English as "jam" or "marmalade".^[10]

Regional varieties

India

In India, popular fruits that are candied and left in Its own syrup are apple, fig, cherry, pear, Indian gooseberry (amla), raw mango, carrots, plum, quince, peach and winter melon.^[11][4][3]

Arab world

Palestinian mabroosha

In Lebanon and Syria, figs are traditionally made into anise-flavored murabba during the summer, often mixed with nuts.^[12][13][14] Mabroosha (Arabic: مبروشة, lit. 'brushed') is a Levantine pie filled with murabba.^[15][16][17]

Antebikh (Arabic: عنطبيخ) or ainabia (Arabic: عنبية) is a traditional grape murabba from Hebron flavored with anise seeds.^[18][19][20]

Armenia

Armenian walnut and pumpkin murabba alongside tea and matnakash

The most popular fruits and other ingredients turned into murabba (Armenian: մուրաբա) in Armenia/Armenian cuisine are watermelon, watermelon rind, quince, pumpkin, apricot, mulberry, raspberry, pear, cherry, cornelian cherry, plum, pomegranate, and walnut.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

Gallery

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  Winter Melon Murabba from Nepal
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  Butternut Pumpkin jam or murabba in Tabriz, Iranian Azerbaijan
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  Different types of murabba in Tabriz, Iranian Azerbaijan
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  Fruit Murabba from Bangladesh
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  Walnut Murabba from Georgia